Physics of burrowing sandfish revealed

Simulations show how lizard wriggles a fine line to maximize thrust, extension

The sandfish lizard wriggles through desert sands like a sci-fi monster.
Now, using computer simulations and bendy robots, researchers at
Georgia Tech in Atlanta have taken the most complete look yet at the
everyday physics of burrowing animals. And, boy, does this reptile
wriggle, the team reports online February 23 in the Journal of the Royal
Society Interface. “This particular behavior is built for speed,” says
physicist Daniel Goldman, one of the study coauthors.

Like the
deadly sandworms in the Dune science fiction series, a host of animals
from scorpions to snakes haunt subterranean deserts across t

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